By Emily Field

Grocery chain Publix has asked the Ohio federal court overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation to send questions to Georgia's high court about whether that state's law allows public nuisance claims over a healthcare provider's dispensing of prescription narcotics.

By Theresa Schliep

Retail pharmacies including Walgreens Co. and Walmart Inc. have escaped a suit brought by Alaska in state court over their role in the opioid epidemic after a judge found the state's public nuisance claims were a "bridge too far."

By Emily Field

Counsel for two Ohio counties that won a $650 million verdict against Walmart, CVS and Walgreens told the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday that opioids are a "unique" problem during oral arguments about whether the counties' public nuisance claims are blocked by the state's product liability law.

By Emily Field

The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday will become only the second state high court to hear oral arguments on whether the opioid epidemic is a public nuisance, the controversial legal theory underpinning numerous suits across the country including a $650 million award that two Ohio counties won against Walmart, CVS and Walgreens.

By Mike Curley

An Ohio federal judge has denied a bid by pharmacy benefit manager OptumRx to disqualify Motley Rice LLC from representing plaintiffs in the national opioid litigation, saying the company hasn't shown that the firm's prior representation of states investigating opioids puts the company at a disadvantage in the multidistrict litigation.